Here’s a story that I wanted to flag to you quickly. It hearkens back to what I wrote recently about some sublime and ridiculous aspects of offshore wind development. Regarding the sublime, I reported that the United Kingdom’s Crown Estate had leased offshore areas for a series of massive wind power projects. What the Crown […]
A CROSS POST By Sean Patrick Murphy Monday, March 15 3:56 pm EST What is refreshing about this documentary is that it is balanced. It is about the 17-year, $27.3 billion lawsuit brought against Chevron for allegedly dumping toxic oil waste in the Amazon sector of Ecuador. The 30,000 residents of the area have filed a […]
The Svalbard Global Seed Vault was created two years ago as a repository of the Earth’s seed supply, to “safeguard against wars or natural disasters wiping out food crops around the globe.” On Thursday, the vault crossed a major threshold with the addition of the 500,000th seed, coming close to ensuring that the planet’s existing […]
I wrote about The Brouhaha Over the Science a month ago, saying, among other things, that the premise, as posited in a particular “NY Times” article, that there are “two sides in the climate-change debate” is way off the mark. There is deep, broad and unequivocal science that has long since ended any reasoned contention […]
Last Sunday, the New York Times reported on the wind energy industry in Wyoming (the eighth windiest state) and how the governor is pushing for a tax on wind energy. The wind power lobby has, of course, expressed its horror that the state would consider such a thing, practically comparing it to killing a newborn. […]
Today, March 9, is the day about twenty countries, including Nigeria, Gabon, and Equatorial Guinea, who have signed on to the Extractive Industries’ Transparency Initiative (EITI) were supposed to finish and have filed their Validation forms. Validation is EITI’s “quality assurance mechanism,” a step toward achieving Compliance with the EITI standards. The Initiative is designed […]
To commemorate International Women’s Day yesterday, Isatou Jallow, chief of the World Food Program’s Gender Unit, gave an interview discussing the role of women in global agriculture and the combating of hunger. Her interview addresses the key role that women play in agricultural labor and food security for the household. She also discusses the risks […]
Tom Friedman’s latest column, Dreaming the Possible Dream, touches on some companies and their promising technologies that we’ve seen here, namely Calera (cement) and Bloomenergy (fuel cells.) Everybody has seen the hype for Bloomenergy. I sincerely hope they live long and prosper. I quoted Bill McKibben here a while ago in his review of a […]
I don’t write about fossil fuels much here because I consider them, well, to be fossils. The fossil fuel industries are rather large dinosaurs lumbering to their long, drawn-out deaths as the earth continues to get hotter. It’s a scene from “Fantasia.” Unfortunately, so is my vision. Coal, oil and gas are going to be […]
I have the pleasure of teaching at the Center for Global Affairs at NYU, in both the graduate and Continuing Education programs. Every month, the MS in Global Affairs folks have a discussion (followed by a lunch) and this past Friday the topic was “New Directions in News Reporting.” Veteran reporter and professor of journalism, […]
Perhaps —no, undoubtedly — only the World Bank would host an event to discuss the fiscal systems different countries have to divide oil and gas revenue. The conference, held in Washington DC by the Bank’s Oil, Gas and Mining division, concludes today. While some systems are unitary (like, on balance, Indonesia), many today are federal. […]
As you might imagine, I subscribe to a number of feeds on climate, energy and sustainability. Here are a few that I highly recommend to you. Nature Reports Climate Change, from the Nature Publishing Group, is an excellent resource on climate science and related matters. Its companion blog, Climate Feedback, has timely and compelling coverage […]
I would be remiss in not pointing you to a blockbuster paper by Amory Lovins from September that I’ve only just now read. I scanned his article in Grist at the time in which he thoroughly debunks Stewart Brand’s support for nuclear power. Here are the four myths he shatters: variable renewable sources of electricity […]
Democracy produces stability only when it actually responds to the needs of the people. So India is taking steps to neutralize a Maoist rebellion in eastern India by increasing payments to local people being displaced by mining development. The government will introduce a new bill, probably in the current session of parliament, to raise the payout […]
John Kerry gave a speech this past week in which he said that he is “on a short track” to introducing climate and energy legislation that can be passed. Kerry said he’d been working with key administration officials and Senators to create a package. In a Reuters article on this, Carol Browner is quoted as […]